The present invention is directed to a squeeze-activated flashlight having a flexible jacket and a squeeze-activated switch, and in particular to a squeeze-activated flashlight having a carriage assembly disposed within the jacket including a plastic housing adapted to receive one or more batteries and a plurality of metal electrical contacts that are adapted to electrically contact the batteries which can be assembled by a machine.
Prior squeeze-activated flashlights such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,458, which is assigned to Press-A-Lite Corporation, the applicant herein, include a plastic housing, a plurality of metal electrical contacts adapted to electrically contact a pair of batteries, and a pair of electrical conductor members that form an electrical switch adapted to selectively illuminate a lamp. In such prior flashlights the metal electrical contacts and conductor members are hand fitted and assembled with the plastic housing. Consequently the assembly of the electrical contacts and conductor members with the housing was a very time consuming and labor intensive task. The present invention provides a plastic housing wherein the electrical contacts and conductor members are partially embedded within the housing during molding of the housing such that the carriage assembly of the flashlight may be easily and quickly assembled by machine thus greatly reducing the overall amount of time and labor required to assemble the flashlight.